Workplace Telecommunications Technology to Identify Mental Health Disorders and Facilitate Self-Help or Professional Referrals

Abstract

Purpose. Test the feasibility and impact of an automated workplace mental health assessment and intervention. Design. Efficacy was evaluated in a randomized control trial comparing employees who received screening and intervention with those who received only screening. Setting. Workplace. Subjects. 463 volunteers from Boston Medical Center, Boston University, and EMC and other employed adults, among whom 164 were randomized to the intervention (N = 87) and control (N = 77) groups. Intervention. The system administers a panel of telephonic assessment instruments followed by tailored information, education, and referrals. Measures. The Work Limitation Questionnaire, the Medical Outcomes Questionnaire Short Form-12, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, question 10 from the Patient Health Questionnaire to measure functional impairment, and the Perceived Stress Scale-4 and questions written by study psychiatrists to measure emotional distress and social support respectively. The WHO-Five Well-being Index was administered to measure overall well-being. Analysis. Independent sample t-tests and χ2 tests as well as mean change were used to compare the data. Results. No significant differences on 16 of the 20 comparisons at 3- and 6-month time points. The intervention group showed a significant improvement in depression (p ≤ .05) at 3 months and on two Work Limitation Questionnaire subscales, the Mental-Interpersonal Scale (p ≤ .05) and the Time and Scheduling Scale (p ≤ .05), at 3 and 6 months respectively with a suggestive improvement in mental health at 6 months (p ≤ .10). Conclusions. This is a potentially fruitful area for research with important implications for workplace behavioral interventions. (Am J Health Promot 2011;25[3]:207–216.)